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“It’s time for you two to earn your keep, right?” Chi-Woo held Steam Bun with his left hand and the fenrir cub with his right. Steam Bun was calm, but the cub frantically tried to get out and showed their displeasure.

Chi-Woo sternly said, “Follow me while I’m being nice. Don’t you know that those who don’t work don’t get to eat? And there’s no one else to make your meals except me anyway.” Chi-Woo’s threat seemed to have worked, as the fenrir cub’s resistance subsided.

“Think for yourself what you can do and carry it out in action. It’s up to you whether you’ll be served meat dishes or just grass. Do you understand?” Chi-Woo threatened the cub one more time and quickly moved while carrying them. Of course, he didn’t forget to warn the other expedition members that one of them was very fierce, so they shouldn’t touch the cub or risk getting bitten.

* * *

The Cassiubia League was a coalition of indigenous monsters that once lived on Liber with humans. There were dozens of different monster tribes gathered around the Cassiubia Mountain Range. However, the power of each tribe was not equal. Unlike the Last Dragon, which stood alone at the top of the coalition, there were many monster tribes that were treated as foot soldiers or common laborers. A prime example would be the Kobalos. The Kobalos were a monster tribe cursed by god. Born with green skin, the members of this tribe were short like dwarfs and weak in strength. Their eyes were fierce, their noses were hooked, and their ears were crooked, and overall, their appearance was hideous. Moreover, it was impossible for them to reproduce amongst each other, so if they wanted to continue their race, they needed to mate with other monsters.

Of course, the Kobalas were not an attractive partner for mating, so in order to continue their race’s existence, they didn’t hesitate to kidnap monsters from different tribes. As a result, they naturally earned the hatred of other tribes and were often raided by them. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the Kobalos were an unfortunate monster tribe that was bound to become extinct due to both internal and external reasons. However, as living beings, the Kobalos had an inherent instinct and desire to survive. They led a tribe that could not stay in one place for a long time and wandered from place to place. After decades, they met a god who miraculously accepted the Kobalos. Of course, it wasn’t for free. In exchange for lifting part of their curse, the god demanded an eternal price.

The Kobalos, who were tired of their long wandering and wanted to settle down, gladly accepted the god’s demands. Their situation did not change dramatically. The Kobalos were still short and weak. It was still impossible for them to breed with each other. However, one thing changed. The Kobalos were given the power that would be the basis for solving all their problems. It was none other than intelligence. Rather than simple intelligence, they acquired a wisdom that contained the logic of a specific phenomenon. With this wisdom as their foundation, the Kobalos were able to solve a large part of their curse—at least until they made a mistake in fulfilling the price that their god demanded.

The Kobalos paid the price by performing a ritual periodically, but one day, they lost an important object that was part of the ritual. Although they tried hard to recover it somehow, the failure of the ritual brought about unknown results, and they lost contact with those who had been sent to recover the object. To make matters worse, a huge incident broke out across Liber. The Kobalos had no idea what to do in their dire situation. Even if they tried to fix the failed ritual, there was no guarantee that they would succeed, and simply waiting while their surroundings got more and more unstable made them anxious. In a desperate situation like this, the Kobalos eventually decided to leave their home for now. They had no choice but to leave as shocking news reached them nonstop, starting from news that humanity was on the verge of going extinct.

In a way, joining the Cassiubia League had been a stroke of luck. Although the Kobalos was not originally a race that was welcomed, considering the situation, the Cassiubia League reached out first so that they could join forces and fight together. Moreover, they added that if the Kobalos didn’t join, they would consider the Kobalos their enemies and erase them, as they would most likely get caught by the Demon Empire or the alien forces and become experiments otherwise.

The Kobalos had no choice. Since they wouldn’t be given another opportunity to join the Cassiubia League, they left their home and moved to the Cassiubia Mountain Range. Since then, they worked hard to fulfill any tasks they were assigned, so other tribes weren’t openly hostile to them. However, their fundamental problem persisted. As a result of failing their ritual, the Kobalos were starting to show signs of returning to their olden days—their barbaric days with no rationality and only instincts, when they kidnapped monsters from different tribes with underhanded and dirty tactics. They could never let this happen. They had managed in the meantime with the medicine they had stocked up, but it was going to run out soon. Before they fully ran out, they needed to solve this problem. Alice Ho Lactea, who happened to hear about their situation, accepted their request.

“The mission of the former expedition team was to find a fire pit.” Dulia greatly emphasized the word, ‘former’. Since the situation was so urgent, she was giving the explanation as they marched. “It’s not an ordinary fire pit. From what I heard, it’s a holy relic given by the god that the Kobalos served. It seems that the Kobalos’ ritual needs to be carried out through that fire pit.”

“I’m curious. What on earth is that ritual?”

“From what I heard, I don’t think it’s an ordinary ritual. It’s a lot more complicated than I thought. The details about that…that person probably has it.” Dulia frowned. Thinking of Yunael seemed to have put a damper on her mood. “Anyway, I heard it’s a magic fire pit, not a normal one.”

“A magic fire pit?”

“Yeah. The source of wisdom that the Kobalos gained from their god was, I think, related to alchemy. The conditions are very particular and difficult to fulfill, but I heard that using the fire pit can bring about a magical effect. Well, it’s none of my business.”

That made the expedition pretty tempting. Since the fate of a tribe was dependent on this mission, Alice must have been promised a considerable amount of money. And given it was a type of dungeon exploration, they could also expect loots. Moreover, what if the Kobalos allowed him to use that magic fire pit? Above all, they could earn merit and honor for saving a monster tribe.

‘It’s killing two birds with one stone. The pay-off is going to be great.’ Since this expedition had great trade-offs, Chi-Woo could understand a bit why Yunael couldn’t easily give up. It would be a lie if Chi-Woo said he didn’t want to reap the rewards, but he decided to only focus on his mission for now. There was no need for him to go through extra trouble; he was just going to check if Yunael was alive, and if they were, he was going to bring them back. Chi-Woo wanted to rescue them and return as soon as possible because for some unknown reason, he had been feeling anxious these days. It was such a strong feeling of ominousness that it made him shudder.

* * *

The expedition arrived at their destination exactly three days later. It was a basin surrounded by mountains on all sides. Since Dulia said they had to go underground, Chi-Woo had imagined a cave, but once they reached it, he saw a long and narrow crack like a crevasse. Although it was big enough for a Kobalos to enter, it seemed a little cramped for humans to come and go through.

“If you follow this gap, you’ll find an entrance inside. It was quite deep and wide compared to what the surface would suggest. You’ll find out once you get in.” Dulia continued to lead the expedition. Not long after, a doorway appeared before them as she said. It was covered in moss, but there were stairs leading down. “That’s where it starts.” Dulia smacked her lips as she stood in front of the stairs. Not expecting to return here, her expression didn’t look good. Her hesitant eyes showed even a hint of fear.

“Ms. Dulia, you said it was a place where unknown monsters come out and the surroundings change, right?”

Dulia nodded quietly and sighed. “First, I’ll lead all of you to where I separated from my former expedition members and track their traces. It won’t be hard to find. I’m sure Yunael made a big mess considering their personality. Of course, that is if they’re still alive.”

“Yes, let’s do that.” Chi-Woo accepted the head’s suggestion and signaled his readiness. Taking the lead, Dulia smiled bitterly. She recalled having a heated debate before entering not too long ago. Chi-Woo was the complete opposite from Yunael, who interfered with everything and found fault in her for no reason. Perhaps thanks to the trust and faith shown by the current expedition leader, some of the fear that she had felt a while ago subsided a bit. Dulia thought if she was with this team, the outcome might be different.

“All right, let’s go.” Leading the way, Dulia looked down at the stairs. She took a confident step forward and thought, ‘Yeah, this is how an expedition should be. Fuck.’

* * *

After walking a little bit inside, all the light was completely blocked. Chi-Woo was able to distinguish his surroundings to some extent thanks to his time in the Evelaya Volcano cave but not everyone could, so he had to light a torch. Rather than a maze, it was more accurate to say the interior was like a cave system. Spaces were created all over underground, and they were connected to each other. True to the Kobalos’ statement that they had used this place as a base, there were signs of activities everywhere, but there were no items of any value. Strictly speaking, it couldn’t be said that they had actually arrived at their destination.

Although they ran away, Yunael’s expedition team had entered the place where the Kobalos tribe held their ritual in the past. Dulia said it was the deepest and darkest part of this space, which meant they had to go down a long way. After a good while, they stopped marching. Dulia wandered around for a little, but eventually found the spot where she separated from her previous expedition team.

“Wow…they really went in…”

Chi-Woo fell into deep thought as Dulia walked around and read their traces. He had felt a strange sensation the moment he entered. He couldn’t explain it clearly, but it was a feeling he’d had a few times in his life. During his time following his mentor, he had once seen a gut site on his way back after solving a problem[1]. Chi-Woo had looked at the site in curiosity and was startled when a shaman who had been energetically dancing on a jakdu for a long time suddenly stopped moving and glared at him[2].

Why are they glaring at him? As soon as he thought this, Chi-Woo had felt an indescribable sensation. At the same time, his mentor had grabbed him and dragged him away. Then his mentor raised their hand to the shaman in an apologetic gesture and immediately turned around, and the shaman withdrew their sharp gaze. His mentor walked away in a hurry and deliberately circled far away to get out of there. When Chi-Woo asked why he did this, his mentor had replied like this:

[They’re in the middle of a naerim-gut.] [3]

[They specially prepared a space for a god to descend with great care, but what if an uninvited guest breaks in without warning? It’s understandable they would be upset.]

When Chi-Woo asked why, his mentor said it was a matter of territory dispute.

[It’s not limited to naerim-gut. All kinds of ganshin-gut are like that. A full-fledged shaman has to be even more careful.] [4]

[Unless you’re invited, you really shouldn’t intrude on another shaman’s territory.]

The space where a god had descended became a temporary territory for that god alone. But what if a shaman who had welcomed another god intruded without permission? There was bound to be collision and conflict. Chi-Woo’s mentor had answered Chi-Woo’s question by further explaining that it was the same as one country arbitrarily invading another country. Chi-Woo had felt a similar stimulus to that time when he stepped into this place, as if he was encroaching on someone’s property. But…

‘It’s not a normal property.’ Just like how a jesa ritual started with choheon and ended with a bunchuk, the end of any ritual was important. [5]

If the officiator did not finish the ritual properly, it was the same as the ritual being incomplete. Dulia had said that the Kobalos had failed their ritual. However, the important part was that it was cut short, and the ritual couldn’t be described as over. What if the ritual was still continuing after the failure?

‘But…’ The pieces weren’t fitting together perfectly, though. It was hard to describe it, but it felt like a water bottle had toppled down, and the surrounding area got soaked with a bit of impurity mixed into the liquid. But Chi-Woo could not jump to conclusions yet. He would have to go further inside to find out what exactly happened; aside from the fact that they needed to save Yunael and the others. By then, the head, Dulia, had finished her assessment of the area.

“This is one crazy shit-head.” She looked around with a dumbfounded expression on her face. “Eight times. That’s the number of times they’ve passed this place. One of them was nine hours ago.” She clicked her tongue.

“Then you’re saying that they were at least still alive this morning, right?” Jin-Cheon clasped his hands behind his head.

“We don’t know. Anything could have happened to them inside.” Dulia hmphed and turned away. “They deserve it. That punk kept criticizing me for being incompetent, but look at them wandering around and around without a guide.” Although she said they deserved it, she didn’t sound like she meant it.

Chi-Woo organized his thoughts and said, “Then they might be lost and have been wandering around, unable to reach their destination.”

“…Maybe. They might even want to go back but can’t find their way out. You guys will find out later, but the paths keep changing from time to time.” Dulia shrugged and continued, “Anyway, I think there’s a high possibility that they’re lost. We didn’t run into a single monster on our way here, right? What if the reason is the two of them have been walking around defeating monsters nonstop…?” Then she suddenly raised her voice and turned to one side. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up.

Chi-Woo wondered why she had suddenly turned around and soon flinched. When he listened carefully, he heard a strange noise coming from the distance. It sounded like someone frantically screaming at the top of their lungs.

1. Gut or kut means ritual in Korean and are rites performed by Korean shamans. ☜

2. Korean shamans often dance on a jakdu, a straw or hay cutter, to show their prowess. Dancing on a jakdu can involve standing on top of knives and dancing or walking on a long, bladed knife. ☜

3. A type of initiation gut. During this rite, a person becomes a shaman by being possessed by spirits/gods. ☜

4. Ganshin is the phenomenon of a supernatural being entering or possessing a human body or object. So, ganshin-gut is any type of ritual that involves this phenomenon. ☜

5. Jesa: memorial ceremony for the dead, which involves making an offering of food and prayers. Choheon (“initial offering”): “the choheongwan (who is responsible for the first libation) offers the first cup of liquor… After the invocation, the Choheongwan makes two bows for the first libation.” Bunchuk: “invocation official burns the written invocation.” (Source: National Folk Museum of Korea) ☜